John and Roger,
I generally concur with the thrust of your statements. From a local
government perspective, if a Mayor or Council person receives more than a
handful (5-6 letters or calls) from constituents on an issue that is
unexpected, it gets their attention. They call up staff and ask what's
going on, and start doing their homework on it.
On issues that normally bring lots of people out (e.g., planning and siting
decisions), the threshold is higher for concern, as they are used to many
people getting agitated in those situations.
During garbage contract transitions, if City staff tell elected officials
to expect hundreds of calls due to inevitable problems, that inoculates the
elected officials from a panic response.
From a grassroots organizing perspective, therefore, the bottom line is to
get 10-12 letters or calls in from a variety of backgrounds (business
leaders, environmental groups, other elected officials, church and civic
group leaders) to have the most impact on a public policy issue before
staff has a "pat" answer to respond.
Gary Liss
At 08:28 AM 01/05/01 , RJayW2@aol.com wrote:
>I have read several times and have heard often that one personalized, signed
>letter to an elected official has much impact. Officeholders and their
>staffs say one personal letter has the force of at least 100 constituents
>voicing the same opinion. Canned messages--mass mailing or emailings--are
>mostly viewed as annoyances by staff and are not given as much consideration.
>
>Any other political types on the listserv have another opinion or heard
>something different? I'm sure we'd all be interested in hearing it.
>
>John Waddell
>Refuse News
>
>
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